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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26853241">Four or less</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolarisRasa/pseuds/SolarisRasa'>SolarisRasa</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Sol's Malec Whumptober 2020 [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Shadowhunters (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Buried Alive, M/M, Mind Rape, Whumptober 2020, good ending, i guess?, suffocation</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 00:42:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,980</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26853241</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolarisRasa/pseuds/SolarisRasa</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Day 4: Running out of Time/ Buried Alive</p><p>“Just because he’s not in his office does not mean that Alexander has vanished. He does enjoy a coffee and a walk, you know.”</p><p>Jace rolled his eyes, not that Magnus could see him but he knew, “ I know, something just feels...I dunno. I’m going to look for him. Just, let me know if he comes home?”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Sol's Malec Whumptober 2020 [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1953454</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>174</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Four or less</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Obviously a lot of these are gonna be quick little blurbs, hopefully they're still fun!</p><p>Day 4: Running out of Time/ Buried Alive</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>
    <span>Twenty-five minutes </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Just because he’s not in his office does </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>mean that Alexander has vanished. He does enjoy a coffee and a walk, you know.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jace rolled his eyes, not that Magnus could see him but he knew, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“ I know, something just feels...I dunno. I’m going to look for him. Just, let me know if he comes home?”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Magnus understood too well the fear that misplacing (and really, that’s what it was for how much time both he and Jace dedicated to Alec) Alexander could cause, so he promised he would and ended the call.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He tried to focus on the potion he was working on, but Jace’s call had sent his own thoughts traipsing down the “what if” route. He grumbled to the Chairman about overprotective shadowhunters as he headed to make himself a drink. He was only just putting a twist of lemon in when a knock sounded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He whisked his glass off the cart and pulled the door open with a flourish, half expecting a shadowhunter. Instead he found-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Camille. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised the Clave didn’t even manage to hold you for a decade. I am surprised you’re already darkening my doorstep, I thought you’d gotten the message, finally, it wasn’t terribly subtle.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She offered him a sickly smile and Magnus had to work at the nonchalance he took a slow sip with. He would have to make sure Alexander was aware and probably start looking for whatever poor mundanes she’d drained. She looked too good for someone just broken out, her lipstick perfect and her dress wickedly tight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She leaned on his doorframe, stretching in a way that had made him go a little crazy for her once but that just made him feel, well, a little gross. When his gaze on her face didn’t even waver she pouted and when that didn’t seem to draw his attention either, let her fangs drop.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Magnus took another drink, “You’ve really gotten pathetic if you thought any of that would work. Why are you here Camille?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have a game, Magnus. Remember how much you used to love our games?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Magnus remembered mornings with dried blood on his chest, stumbling into walls, and sweating out the venom when Camille decided she wanted to watch him suffer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not playing.” He started to close the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s a shame. Your shadowhunter is.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He caught the door, fire replacing his blood as he turned the glass in his hand to ashes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oooh, got your attention now? Your little toy is depending on you Magnus.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He stepped closer and she grinned, eyes raking over him as she tongued at a fang. He wondered that she couldn’t see the anger in his eyes. Apparently his sending her to the gard hadn’t gotten the message through properly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Or you could leave him where I’ve had him put and make your betrayal up to me?” She slinked into his space, arm draping over his shoulder as she pressed up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He grabbed her hair, holding her head at a sharp angle away from him. She tried for a teasing smile but he could see the uncertainty the action sparked. Magnus could be aggressive, brutal when needed, but he’d never laid a hand on her, not like this. Camille was the one who caused hurt, she didn’t feel it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He put his lips by her ear, “Where is my </span>
  <em>
    <span>husband</span>
  </em>
  <span>?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She hissed and twisted to get away but Magnus had been sparring with nephilim for the better part of two years now and her strength couldn’t shake him now, he’d learned a few tricks. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You married him?” She relaxed, no doubt hoping he’d release her if she played nice, the strain on her neck showing in her compressed speech, “You poor, pathetic thing. So desperate for love you’d let one of the real monsters lay claim to you, no doubt for your power, just to play house.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Magnus twisted his hand viciously, watching her tendons work as she stumbled to the side, “Stop. Tell me where he is.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She spat the words at him, “I thought we could bury the hatchet, but I knew your little angel would get in the way so I buried him instead.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The fire was replaced with ice in his veins and he grabbed her face in both hands, magic snapping as he tore the memory from her, making her scream. As soon as he’d taken everything she had that could help he shredded the rest of her mind, viscous magic his father had taught him, the kind he’d kept carefully forgotten.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He let Camille drop, still conscious but not a threat, never a threat again as she lay, a beautiful, empty doll.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>One Hour and seventeen minutes </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jace and Isabelle were silent, twin masks of grim determination that reflected in the subway windows. Simon and Clary were bent together, talking softly, their own expressions haunted. Magnus observed them all in the window, his own face was stone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jace?” He asked, lips barely moving. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jace slowly sat beside him, movements too precise. He clasped Magnus’ hand,took a breath, closed his eyes, and reached.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Magnus could feel Alec through his magic and the bond, could link to him enough to get a sense of what he was experiencing.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Darkness. A black so deep he was making strange shapes in his mind and following them around the space. Though, that might have been the lack of air. He’d fought, at first, until he understood where he was, then he’d gone still and tried to breathe slow and even.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Four hours for someone smaller than him. He hoped he passed out first. He hoped Magnus- No. If he thought about the others, he’d cry and if he cried he’d die faster.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Magnus let the magic go and was back on the subway, their stop quickly approaching. Jace extracted his hand, pulling out his stele. Magnus frowned, not sure why Jace was activating his Iratze until he watched the bones in his hand set themselves.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jace just shrugged and stood back up. Clary and Simon had gone quiet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Magnus couldn’t bear to repeat the number Alec had given himself to them, so he said nothing at all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They got off and ran, headed for the concrete prison Camille had made.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Two hours and fifteen minutes</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was harder than they thought, even with the memories, to pin it down. There were a lot of identical rowhouses and Camille hadn’t bothered with the number, she’d only been there once, a follower prepared it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once they were inside, standing in the basement of bare earth with a perfect six by four foot rectangle of concrete laid in the floor, Isabelle called it in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Magnus reached out with his magic and growled. Camille had mixed a potion into the pour that would make it nearly impossible to just use his magic to free Alexander. He could probably make it </span>
  <em>
    <span>easier </span>
  </em>
  <span>to get to him but they were going to have to dig. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He flicked his fingers, summoning shovels for all of them. Without answering the questions that brought up from the others he got started. He couldn’t lift the concrete and he couldn’t return it to liquid or pull the coffin Camille had shut Alexander it free, but he could weaken its structure, wearing at it until it cracked and then broke down further until it resembled gravel. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He tried again to just pull Alexander free of it but there was no give. He sighed and grabbed a shovel.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She protected it against any more magic than this. We have to dig.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No one seemed surprised.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Two hours and forty-three minutes</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jace was wheezing, hand clutching at his side and Magnus reached out, connecting with him.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>There was noise above him, he knew. Magnus was coming, Jace was coming, his family was-</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>He sobbed, trying to drag in a full enough breath, they weren’t coming. The noise had to be his mind playing tricks, if they were going to save him they’d have been here by now. He didn’t know how long he’d been down there.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>He tried to take another breath but there wasn’t enough to feel right. He pushed a little at the sides of his cage. He didn’t want to die, he didn’t want to die-</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Magnus was thrown out of the connection as Alexander passed out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No. Alec. Alec!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn’t register that he was yelling right along with Jace as they both started digging frantically again, Izzy and Clary working above them to make sure nothing fell back in. Simon had been sent to Raphael when Jace had first started to feel Alexander struggle. Magnus refused to lose Alec here and that meant planning around the breach in the Accords. So Simon had gone to Raphael for a writ and blood.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were close, Magnus could feel it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jace made a harsh sound and stopped and Magnus couldn’t take it anymore. He grabbed the remaining gravel with his magic, ignoring the immediate drain, and ripped it away. The potion in it weakened enough that he could but functional enough it swallowed his magic. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He swayed as he scrabbled at the lid of Alexander’s coffin, determined to stay conscious long enough to see his husband alive.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jace’s hands reached over his and together they wrenched the lid back, Jace’s strength rune bending the metal into the dirt and concrete wall to the right. The lower section was still closed but that hardly mattered as Magnus, blinking black out of his vision, cupped Alexander’s face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alexander. Alexan-” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Sixteen hours </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That was very dramatic of you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Magnus smiled, eyes still closed. He didn’t know what had happened or even where he was yet, but he knew the most important thing. Alexander was laying beside him, arm around him, his voice sounding fondly amused in his ear. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve only just woken, what did I do?” He mumbled into Alec’s chest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You passed out partially falling into the coffin with me just as Raphael showed up ready to change me and the Institute back ups portaled in with Catarina in tow. I was also out still, but Jace said it took some yelling to convince all parties that no one was dead and no one needed to be arrested or bitten, just healed and put to bed.” Alec’s voice is warm and he squeezes Magnus a little as he speaks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Magnus smiles, still refusing to open his eyes as Alec presses a kiss to his forehead. They lay together, sharing warmth and listening to each other breathe.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you.” Alec says, kissing his hair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Darling, I hope you aren’t thanking me for getting you out.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I am, but mostly because I can’t imagine what that was like for you Magnus. Cat told me how she found Camille and what you did with your magic that drained you like that...She’s appealing Raphael to mercy kill Camille.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Magnus swallowed, “I-I shouldn’t’ve done that to her. We’re supposed to be better and what I did...it was something my father would do.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alexander just hums, “I’m not feeling charitable.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sometimes Magnus forgets, Alec knows the darkness inside of him and doesn’t flinch away. Alec skims his nose along Magnus’ temple and he shivers a bit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s get some more sleep, we can unpack the rest of this later. For now I want to hold you, I thought I was leaving you today and...if you hadn’t destroyed her I might have, Camille or anyone else, I won’t let anyone hurt you like that again.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Magnus opened his eyes, meeting Alexander’s tired but loving hazel’s. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wondered at it, the flicker he could see in his love, the lengths he would go to for Magnus.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re the very breath in my lungs Alexander.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alec just smiled and kissed him, soft enough to break him. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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